Uruguay: A former mayor candidate was sentenced 9 months in prison for domestic violence

A former mayoral candidate from the department of Paysandú, in western Uruguay, was convicted of the crimes of domestic violence against his wife and son, and the illegal possession of firearms. The man in question is a member of the National Party (party to which President Lacalle Pou belongs) and former mayor of the city of Quebracho, Mario Bandera.

After an agreement between his defense and the Prosecutor's Office, Bandera will have to serve nine months in prison with probation and three months of community work, the prosecutor of the case, Carlos Motta, told the newspaper El País.

You will also have to undergo psychological treatment and an electronic anklet will be attached. If there are no devices available in the department, Bandera will be kept in police custody, as the protocol dictates.

However, the custody measure is unlikely to happen due to the expansion of the budget for electronic anklets by 4 million dollars, to buy 50% more anklets in 2020, adding 1,500 devices for the entire country by the end of that year.

According to the prosecutor, during the hearing the nationalist “acknowledged the facts, that he had an outburst, that he exceeded the verbal expressions he said, and that this affected the victim.” Motta also assured that the former candidate and former mayor will go to live in a farm that is owned by him outside the city of Paysandú, capital of the department. That means he's about 70 kilometers away from his wife and son.

For his part, the Chief of Police of Paysandú, Eduar Alvez, stated that Bandera was arrested on Wednesday night and that the complaint was made by his wife who is the director of finance of the Paysandu City Hall, Andrea Bottesch. The policeman confirmed that firearms and bladed weapons were found in Bandera's house that were not declared and not formalized.

The complaint was made after an “outburst” of the former candidate where he exercised verbal and psychological violence towards his partner, Motta said. According to official accounts, Bandera cut a plant, the carpet on the staircase and the curtains of a room in his house with a knife as a form of threat. At that time, his wife decided to make a purse and leave with her son. She asked a friend to pick her up and that's when she filed the complaint at the Paysandú Headquarters.

On the other hand, Bandera's defense lawyer denied during the hearing that there were episodes of physical violence between the couple.

Mario Bandera has a long career within the National Party in Uruguay. During the municipal elections he was elected mayor of the city of Quebracho in 2010. In February 2015, he resigned from that position to run for re-election and, on the same day, he took office as Mayor of Paysandú, supplying Bertil Bentos, who resigned to run for himself.

In the May 2015 elections, he was re-elected mayor of the Municipality of Quebracho, assuming on July 10, 2015. It was during the months of May to September 2020 that he competed as a candidate for the Paysandú City Hall and the second most voted white candidate (as members of the National Party are called) came out, behind the current mayor, Nicolás Olivera.

Prior to the complaint, he was hired as an adviser to the Uruguay River Administrative Commission (CARU).

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